Lenovo's All-in-one: IdeaCentre A600

As expected of a system using the Intel GM45 chipset, the A600 had no trouble playing all the video clips in our test suite with moderate CPU usage, the only exception being Drag Race, which seemed to demand more than normal power and CPU usage. The power consumption was modest under all loads. Idle system power was 53W at the wall outlet. With the monitor turned off, idle power dropped to just 38W, which is 3W lower than we measured for the Lenovo M58p Eco USFF. During typical low-power activities such as web surfing, downloading and installing Windows updates, and checking/sending email, the AC power consumption ranged 53~64W, which is very modest for an entire system complete with 21.5" monitor.

Lenovo IdeaCentre A600-30114BU(Screen brightness set to ~50%*)

Test State

Mean
CPU Use

Peak
CPU Use

AC Power

Off

N/A

1.2W

Sleep (S3)

N/A

2.1W

Idle, monitor on

N/A

53W

Idle, monitor off

N/A

38W

Rush Hour

15%

28%

~80W

Coral Reef

21%

34%

~84W

Dark Knight

17%

28%

~80W

Drag Race

45%

61%

~88W

Prime95

CPU: 85°C
GPU: 57°C
HDD: 45°C

100W

Prime95 + Furmark

CPU: 88°C
GPU: 80°C
HDD: 47°C

125W

*Notes:
1)The monitor brightness could vary the AC power as much as 30W. At full CPU + GPU load, changing monitor brightness from min to max varied the AC power from 110W to 140W. 2) The power supply turned out to incorporate Active Power Factor Correction. Its PF was at or near the ideal of 1.0 through all loads from idle to maximum.

With Prime95 running over 20 minutes, the CPU got quite hot, and the vents on the back over the I/O ports became very warm to touch. The power adapter also became warm, around 50°C. No errors were recorded, however, so the system stayed stable.

Lenovo A600-30114BU Benchmarks

Boot*

42 sec.

PCMark05

n/a*

3DMark06

1164

NOD32

n/a*

WinRAR

254 sec

~75W

iTunes

319 sec

~72W

TMPGEnc

476 sec

~83W

*Boot-up Time - start button to when the round Vista logo
appearsn/a*: The preloaded Vista 64-bit OS did not play nice with the 32-bit versions of these programs.

CPU-centric performance was speedy, as expected with the Intel Core 2 Duo P7450 mobile processor. Boot time was reasonably quick.

PERFORMANCE COMPARED TO...

We have a few recently reviewed products to compare with the Lenovo IdeaCentre A600. The Lenovo M58p Eco USFF is a corporate desktop. The Dell Studio Hybrid
is geared more to the consumer market and uses notebook components. Our home-built mini-ITX system is a small desktop PC an enthusiast could build from retail components. All of these PCs would normally be positioned on the desk close to the user.

Note that the mini-ITX system was not actually built into the Thermaltake Lanbox, which is a large shoebox style SFF case. The components were put together on an open test bench platform for actual testing. The case was included in the component list to make a complete system.

The Lenovo power measurements include the demand of its 21.5" LCD monitor, while the others are conventional PCs that require a separate monitor. Almost any >20" monitor will have a power draw of ~20W or higher. Please keep this in mind.

Benchmarks Comparison

System

Lenovo IdeaCentre A600

Lenovo M58p Eco USFF

Dell Studio Hybrid

Home-built E7200 / DG45FC

CPU Clock

2.13 Ghz

3.0 Ghz

2.13 Ghz

2.53 Ghz

RAM

4GB

2GB

3GB

2GB

Boot

42 Sec.

36 sec.

58 sec.

48 sec.

PCMark05

n/a*

6428

4176

5178

3DMark06

3777

1164

444

1002

Idle Power

53W

41W

23W

35W

NOD32

n/a*

179s

~65W

301s

~40W

319s

~45W

WinRAR

254s

~75W

176s

~67W

274s

~45W

248s

~50W

iTunes

319s

~72W

262s

~67W

312s

~43W

242s

~50W

TMPGEnc

476s

~83W

310s

~78W

468s

~52W

380s

~58W

*Boot - time from start button to when the round Vista logo
appearsn/a*: The preloaded Vista 64-bit OS did not play nice with the 32-bit versions of these programs.

The A600 boots up about as fast as the M58p despite its slower CPU, probably because of its faster 3.5" 7200rpm drive. The M58p was equipped with a 5400rpm 3.5" drive, and the other systems were equipped with slower 5400rpm 2.5" notebook drives. The superior 3D performance of its ATI 3450 GPU comes through in the 3DMark06 score, which is 3.5 times higher than the closest competitor. The timed benchmarks put the A600 closest to the Dell Studio Hybrid, not surprising as the two sport the same processor.

In terms of energy efficiency, the A600 is reasonably close to both the Dell Studio Hybrid and the Home-built mini-ITX systems. Both of these systems draw less power, but when the monitor's power demand is factored in, they'd all be within a few watts of each other, at least at load. In idle, the Dell has the lead with its low power notebook parts.